The Shattered Alliance by Jeff Grubb

Author:Jeff Grubb [Grubb, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2000-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

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Siege

Most reports of the age identify Kjeldor’s last war as being against Lim-Dûl and his foul hordes. The few recognized dissenters point instead to the continuing skirmishes with the Balduvians, which lasted all the way up to total unification of the two warring groups. Both viewpoints miss part of the true nature of Kjeldor and that of its final foe.

The social inner workings of a feudal kingdom such as Kjeldor were as much a piece of clockwork as any creation of the Soldevi machinists. Each person had his or her place in society. Movement between the levels was difficult, though not impossible. Ability allowed such movement but only on very individual terms— the knighting of a heroic commoner, or the demoting scandal of a once-noble house. Magical skill was usually a leveler, but in Kjeld, mages formed their own level of society, and then, with the passing of the office of the royal mage, that level was abandoned entirely.

The result of all this stratification was evident in that not once, but twice, social uprisings erupted that were completely unexpected by the ruling class. First was a group of barrack revolutionaries known as the Stromgald cabal. These young knights fell under the sway of charismatic leaders and became pawns of the necromancer Lim-Dûl. When a similar movement, free of Tresserhorn’s influence, arose years later, it gained followers quickly, particularly from those groups that were excluded, due to class distinction, from the initial Stromgald revolt.

From all evidence, Darien was not a foolish king but a king whose information was limited to those he consulted with. Either none of those close to him were aware of the large group of crusaders banding together to start a social revolution, or if they were aware, they didn't have the courage to inform him of the bad news.

This new group of revolutionaries shared Stromgald’s chauvinist outlook of “Kjeldor for the Kjeldorans” and saw the rich lands of Balduvia as plums that could be picked with a minimum of effort, but unlike Stromgald’s group, their members were pulled from all levels of the flood-disrupted strata of society, making them that much more powerful.

As a result, this group could challenge the power of the crown and the Balduvian chiefs. This situation created a new Last War for Kjeldor— a civil war, from which was birthed a new nation.

— Arkol, Argivian Scholar

The morning following the attack, the pass was filled with fog. It was not a natural fog, one that would be laid irregularly over the rugged folds of the foothills and cling tenaciously to the blackened trees and burned crops. Rather, this mist was a thick, even fog that blanketed the area in a complete, frightening, and almost democratic fashion.

Complete, of course, save at the center of the fog bank, Lovisa’s outpost. There a crystal blue sky shone overhead. The forty-some surviving Balduvians (Jodah had found himself hard-pressed to call them barbarians) were manning the walls in case the attackers decided to take advantage of the fog bank for another sortie.

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